Sanitary drinking-cup.



F. v. SACKEVTL SANITARY DRINKING cuPJ, APPLICATION FILED JULY 8.1916- 7 1,245,386. PatentedNbv.6,191"

FRANK V. SACKETT, OF MOUNT VERNON, NEW YORK.

SANITARY DRINKING-CUP.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed July 8, 1916. Serial No. 108,124.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANICV. SACKETT, a citizen of the United States, residing at Mount Vernon. in the county of Westchester ing means for visual indication of freshness,

or of previous use, as the case may be. Proper regard for hygiene has dictated the very general use of individual drinking cups, made of paraiiin paper or other 1118K:

pensive material, intended for a single use only, but such cups are frequently used under conditions where it is impossible for the user to know whether or not the receptacle is fresh, and where carelessness or laziness of an attendant may defeat the very object of using individual cups by supplying to the users cups that already have been in contact with the lips of previous users. The practice of handing around already-filled, individual drinking cups in theaters gives one illustration of such conditions as above suggested. In many other situations it is customary to use a locked cup-dispensing appliance for no other purpose than to enable the user to feel assured of securing a fresh cup, and the installation and maintenance of such devices is expensive. By my invention I make the cup itself an indicator of its condition, whether fresh or previously used.

To the foregoing end I provide a drinking cup provided near its edge, preferably interiorly and within the border area that is above the line of moderate filling of the cup, with a water soluble condition-indicating marking in the form of a continuous or interrupted line or band, .the appearance of which is altered by contact with the water, so that While it is possible to'fill and carry the cup without altering the appearance of the band, any use of the cup, inevitably resulting in the passage of wateracross the indicating line, will so change its appearance as effectively to denote the fact that the cup has been used.

In the drawings, wherein I have shown embodiments of my invention,

Figure 1 is a perspectiveview of a cup water filled to a reasonable level, showing a continuous indicating line intact.

Patented Nov. 6,191 7.

Fig. 2 illustrates a cup initially provided I with an interrupted indicating line in the condition following use. x

Fig. 3 indicates in cross section another modlfied embodiment of my invention after use.

In said drawings 10 indicates a cup of any suitable shape and structural. formation, generally made of paraffin paper, and 11 ndicates in general the condition-indicating line or band. As shown in Fig. 1, the band may be a marking 11 in the form of a continuous line, suitably drawn on the paper, such line 11 being preferably made with a harmless water soluble pigment, such for instance as a vegetable dye, of color c0ntrasting with the color of the paper, and located in the interior border-part of the cup above the normal load-line.

As shown at 11 in Fig. 2, the line need not be continuous, but may take any desired form, interrupted or otherwise, in the zone between the edge of the receptacle and a moderate water level, so that, when the receptacle is tipped in the act of drinking, the water" will blur the marking, as shown at 11, in said Fig. 2.

In lieu of a drawn or printed mark, the color of which will run my invention may be carried into effect by utilizing an applied strip of material, as 11 shown in Fig. 3, the strip being suitably caused to adhere to the cup. The strip may itself be soluble under the action of water or attached by a soluble adhesive so as to be detachable from the body of the cup by the action of Water, so that it will sag as shown at 11. Thus, a thin line of colored gelatin may be employed as the indicating agent, normally adhering to the wall of the vessel, but, upon the application of water, so softenin and loosening as to sag, and thereby indicate that the cup is not fresh. Or the strip may be of a material that changes its appearance under the action of water, as a narrow strip of porous paper that looks darker when wet.

It will be apparent that other changes in the specific embodiment of my invention may be made, and its broader aspects I do not desire to be understood as limiting my invention to the precise embodiments suggested for purposes of full disclosure.

Having described my invention, what I claim is 1. An article of manufacture consisting of an open-topped paper drinking-cup having on its peripheral Wall near the upper edge thereof and out of the expected-loadreceiving area an encircling narrow zone sensitive to the action of water to change its appearance, whereby use of the cup for water-drinking purposes will result in changed appearance of that zone-portion which is adjacent to the area of contact of the users mouth.

2. As an article of manufacture an individual paper drinking-cup having on its inner border portion a line of Water-soluble material of color contrasting with that of the cup.

3. As an article of manufacture an individual paper drinking cup having close to the marginal edge thereof a line of Watersoluble harmless vegetable material of color contrasting with that of the cup.

4. As an article of-manufacture a drinking cup having close to its marginal edge a Water soluble material of color contrasting with that of the cup.

a In testimony whereof I hereunto set my hand in the presence of two subscribing wit- 25 nesses.

' FRANK V. SACKETT. In'the presence of- D. S. HARRIS, F. J. MGLAIN. 

